Municipality attends to burst drain only five days later
Nery Mabunda (50) from Spruitview said she has been maltreated by the City of Ekurhuleni Municipality.
She told Kathorus MAIL a drain burst at her house on November 27, but was only attended to five days later.
“Upon our report, we were given reference number 340 2904. What I can tell you is that the stench was terrible,” said Mabunda.
She said they had to leave their home because they could not stand the smell.
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“Each time we left the house we left the gates open, hoping they would come and attend to the matter in our absence.
“When we reported the matter we were told to wait 48 hours and if nothing happens we must call again.
“After a few days, we were told the plumbers were on their way. Indeed we saw the car passing by our house and thought plumbers were coming to attend to the matter. We ran to the phone to alert them the car had passed our house, thinking they need directions. They asked for the reference number which I misplaced by then. When I finally got it and called again, no one picked up for more than an hour. When they finally answered they said they had sent plumbers,” lamented Mabunda.
Five days after they reported the matter plumbers arrived and said they had only heard about Mabunda’s situation that same day.
“Their big boss told them about it, and he alerted them that our situation was extremely urgent. They came immediately,” said Mabunda.
She said she needs answers from the call centre staff who kept telling lies every time they told them about their situation.
“Why did they maltreat us?”
Her younger daughter, Prisca Mabunda, said their life was very miserable as they had to spend their time at the malls.
“When our mother goes to work, she had to leave home with us in the morning and drop us at the malls. We would spend the whole day there until she came back from work to pick us up and go back to our smelly home. On top of that, my mom’s plants were damaged,” said Prisca.
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Mabunda concluded: “There were a lot of clothes in the garage I was ready to give away to needy members of the community, but they were all damaged. Now I have to throw them away.”
Themba Gadebe, municipal spokesperson, said the reason behind the delay was due to limited resources in their fleet at this busiest time of the year.
“As soon as we had resources the matter was attended to promptly and everything was done according to standard. We would sincerely like to apologise for the inconvenience caused by the delay,” said Gadebe.
